The present invention refers to a transportation and mounting sleeve for rolling elements, such as needles or rollers that are supported in an outer ring, as in a bearing. The sleeve has particular application for the supply of a complement of rolling elements, e.g., needles or rollers, for a bearing and for mounting those needles or rollers on the shaft or other element that defines the inner race of the bearing.
German Patent Application G 91 324 of 1936 shows a sleeve of this type in which a plurality of needles, which rest on their radial inside against the sleeve, are also supported on their radial outside within an outer ring. This prevents the needles from falling out of the outer ring upon transportation. Upon the mounting of this entire needle unit upon a shaft, the internal sleeve can be pushed off axially. The place of the sleeve is then taken by the shaft which produces a structural unit. In order to obtain a certain elasticity here, which permits the easy removal of the sleeve and impedes falling out, the sleeve has a slit. The sleeve therefore has a larger outside diameter in the unmounted condition than the inner envelope circle of the needles, and it rests under slight pressure against the needles. It is itself axially fixed. On the other hand, upon being pushed off, its diameter can change within the range of the width of the slit in the slit region so that a slight radial pressure is retained in all cases. That embodiment, however, has the disadvantage that no purely axially directed slit may be present in order to prevent the needles falling out or hanging through there, which would make mounting difficult. The thus required oblique orientations of the slit make the production of such sleeves very difficult. Either a complicated cutting step must be subsequently done or additional radially removable pusher tools must be provided in the region of the slit.